


Ramona Q.

by ChelleBee53



Category: Ramona Series - Beverly Cleary
Genre: Dialogue-Only, Recurring Original Character, Speculation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:27:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24792322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChelleBee53/pseuds/ChelleBee53
Summary: This is one of my old works.  It takes some of Beverly Cleary's most beloved characters into adulthood.
Kudos: 2





	Ramona Q.

**Welcome to the Helen Barlowe Rochester show. I'm Helen Barlowe Rochester, and my guest today is the renowned Oregonian sculptor and painter, Ramona Q., whose latest exhibit, _Childhood Memories_ is on display at _The Wechsler Gallery_.  
Ms. Q., I want to thank you for appearing today.**

**I'm glad to be here, but please call me Ramona. _Ms Q._ sounds like a mistake.**

**Oh! Miscue! Words can be funny sometimes.**

**They sure can. On my first day of kindergarten, the teacher showed me to a desk and said that I should sit there for the present. Well, you can guess how I interpreted that.**

**Of course. I would have thought the same thing. But there doesn't seem to be anything in the exhibit based on that memory.**

**There isn't. But there _is_ a painting based on an even earlier event in my childhood.**

**Which painting?**

**_The First Bite Tastes Best._ **

**That's one of my favorites. Oh, for those of my viewers who haven't been to the exhibit yet, the painting shows a number of apples on the floor, each with just one bite taken out.**

**We had a barrel of apples, and I took one bite out of each one, because, as the title of the painting says,  
the first bite tastes best. But my sister, Beatrice, found me before I got through the whole barrel.**

**You must have been an interesting kid to have around.**

**Well, Beezus**

**Beezus?**

**That was Beatrice's nickname when we were kids. When I was a baby, I couldn't say _Beatrice_ , and the name _Beezus_  
just stuck. Anyway, she says that I could be pretty exasperating at times.**

**One of your sculptures shows a doll standing with her hand on a car.**

**_Chevrolet and Chevrolet_? Yes, I had a doll I'd named Chevrolet after my aunt's car.**

**Do all of the works in this exhibit come from your own memories?**

**No. I got the idea for the sculpture called _Bull Costume_ from an incident in brother-in-law Otis Spofford's childhood. He and Beatrice met at a high school football game between Glenwood and Rosemont.**

**Can you tell me about the sculpture, _Two Owls_?**

**You want to know why one of the owls is scrunched, don't you? Well, it's because I scrunched one of the original, paper-bag owls.**

**There must be quite a story behind that.**

**Yes, and I'm sorry I can't share it, but someone else was involved.**

**And that person might not want it told?**

**Probably not.**

**I notice that you did both a painting and a sculpture of _Picky-Picky_ and _Ribsy_. They must have been very special to  
warrant being done in _both_ mediums.**

**They were. Picky-Picky was our cat, and Ribsy was my husband's dog.**


End file.
